Pinterest: Epic fail

Monday , November 12, 2012 - 9:15 AM

Caitlynn Kindall

By CAITLYNN KINDALL

TX. Correspondent

While Pinterest has been filling heads full of ideas when it comes to crafting, cooking and more, fail blogs have also been providing entertainment with funny photographs of such projects that have not gone quite as planned. Pinterestfail.com combines the two with an entertaining blog about the wonderful ideas from Pinterest that took a turn for the worse.

It seems so simple — you see a pretty picture of a yummy looking dessert with a seemingly easy recipe, or a concoction for homemade dishwasher detergent that will save you hundreds of dollars every year, and you decide to give it a go. Yet what you end up with is a blob resembling a brownie gone wrong or an overflowing, bubble-spilling dishwasher.

Pinterestfail.com demonstrates ideas like these that didn’t work out quite right and many more.

I fell victim to a Pinterest fail when I was craving a yummy treat to make and snack on during a movie. I turned to Pinterest for ideas and came across a recipe for Reese’s Cheesecake Brownies. It was a short list of ingredients and instructions that looked as if they would create a brownie with chocolatey peanut butter layers of heaven topped with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, resulting in a boost of calories but an oh-so-worth-it mouth full of deliciousness.

I headed out to the store in search of the ingredients and to my surprise, buying 12 packages of Reese’s along with other ingredients didn’t come cheap, but I was determined to make these brownies. When I got home, I got to work, was following the instructions and things seemed to be turning out just as the recipe explained they would.

Oops, now what?

I’m not sure what or where it went wrong, but it did.

My result was less of a peanut buttery, cheesecakey delectable dish and more of a hot, oily crumpled disaster. The instructions said to “chop” the Reese’s cups, creating the pretty topping that was seen in the Pinterest photo. However, on a hot day like the day I attempted to make these brownies, chopping wasn’t exactly an option because everything simply melted together.

This is where Pinterestfail.com comes in — the site takes stories like mine and shares them, with photos explaining what went wrong and what to do differently next time. The photos provide a means of entertainment but it is also helpful to know how to avoid these disasters in the first place.

“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail,” Edwin Lang has said, and Pinterestfail.com gives meaning to this quote. The fail blog, and others like it, create light of situations that have not gone as expected. Like the quote says, an essential part of crafting is failing; oftentimes it’s the little things that go wrong that give crafts character.

Anyone can cover blueberries in yogurt, for instance, but it takes talent to cover blueberries in yogurt and make them look like bird poop. Nothing genius ever came without a little trial and error so you might as well laugh about the trial and error and share the experience so that others can try and avoid making the same mistakes.

However, Pinterestfail.com also acknowledges the fact that some things folks may try to create are just too good to be true! While the Internet is filled with countless great ideas, far too many are simply not practical and are unrealistic.

So a word to the wise when making Reese’s Cheesecake Brownies: It is probably best to not do so on a hot summer day when all of your ingredients simply melt together.

No wooden spoons

As for other fail examples, following recipes to a “T” is an absolute essential, especially when attempting to make Emmy Award-shaped cookies, because if you don’t, you’ll end up with a ghostly round-looking blob. You cannot make a dress in 20 minutes for only $6 but you can spend fours of your time and end up with a $20 disaster.

Then too, using tin cans as baking dishes for personal cakes may seem like a good idea, that is, until you fill the can too full and the overflow begins to resemble a volcano rather than a cake. And don’t take the advice that placing a wooden spoon over a boiling pot of water will prevent the water from flowing over, because it won’t! These and many more lessons are just some of what can be learned from Pinterestfail.com.

If you have a Pinterest fail, or any idea that you tried, for that matter, that didn’t go as planned, don’t be afraid to share it; it’s as easy as clicking submit. If

you’re feeling a little down, Pinterestfail.com will give

you a good laugh and make

you feel better about yourself because at least you didn’t try a new hairstyle this morning and end up with more of a bird’s nest on your head.

Before trying a new project, check it out online to see where people have gone wrong before you in order to avoid those mistakes. Most importantly, don’t forget that it’s OK to fail, and it’s even OK to laugh about it when you do.

Caitlynn Kindall is a senior at Ogden High School. She enjoys being physically fit, being crafty and staying busy. Email her at cuteboardgirl95@msn.com.